Interactive laser tag converter

ABSTRACT

An interactive laser tag converter for a toy gun for entertaining multiple play participants in a game is disclosed. The converter comprises a housing being substantially hollow which contains an IR beam detecting mean capable of detecting an IR beam of light emitted from an IR beam source; a plurality of sensors contained in the housing and being capable of sensing loading or cocking action of the toy gun, and triggering of the toy gun; a bottom attachment or the like of staying in contact with the toy gun; and a display end at one end of the laser tag converter to show data or score of the game.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to play systems and toys, and specifically to interactive laser tag games and toys involving infrared light transmission.

2. Description of the Related Art

There are many games, toys, play structures and other similar entertainment systems that are well known and played interactively among children and adults. A variety of commercially available play toys and games are available to provide both for education and entertainment opportunities for children, for instance, reading, memory stimulation, tactile coordination, stimulations of children's imaginations, creativity and social interactivity, and the like. Shooting game toys are generally known including shooting apparatus embodied as gun apparatus. IR electronic shooting games include communication devices for transmission and reception of IR light signals, operating on principles of IR remote control.

While there are many games and toys that interactive and that employed infrared light communications between a plurality of players. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,621, entitled “Electronic Game with Infrared (IR) emitter and Sensor” to David Small et al, discloses a system that uses infrared communication. A toy laser tag being a hand-held toy gun and target apparatus are disclosed, and an electronic controller is coupled to a transmitter for sending a series of encoded IR light signals and an IR receiver for detecting IR light signals.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,261,180, entitled “Computer Programmable Interactive Toy For A Shooting Game” discloses a toy for a shooting game comprising: a wave energy projector comprising a wave energy source with projects wave energy from said projector; at least one circuit coupled to said energy source which controls operation of said energy source and causes said energy source to project wave energy coded according to any one of a plurality of codes in response to an input; a player programmable device coupled to said at least one circuit to provide coded information thereto; said at least one circuit being responsive to coded information provided by said programmable device to cause said energy source to project energy with a code of the plurality of codes corresponding to said coded information in response to the input.

However, many of the above listed inventions have certain drawbacks. For instance, existing laser tag games require the complete replacement of existing toy gun or equivalents, that operate with spring, lever, gas chamber etc. There is no laser tag gadget that allows users to re-use or recycle their existing toy guns or equivalents. There is also limited effort to make use of technological advancements made in wireless technology like Bluetooth, and acceleration, gyroscopic and magnetic sensors to integrate these technologies with the opportunities bring about by mobile computing and phone to make the gaming experience of laser tag gamers more interesting and challenging.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an interactive laser tag games and toys involving infrared light transmission which mitigates the above drawbacks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a main object of the present invention to provide an interactive laser tag converter that can be attached to existing toy or replica gun or the like, or the equivalent using infrared light communications among a plurality of players.

A main object of the present invention is to provide an interactive laser tag converter for entertaining multiple play participants in a game comprises a housing which is capable of transmitting and detecting an IR beam of light emitted from an IR beam source; a plurality of sensors contained in the housing and being capable of sensing loading or cocking action of a toy gun, and triggering of the toy gun; a bottom attachment or the like of staying in contact with the toy gun; a display at one end of the tag converter to show data or score of the game; a wireless module or data communication linked to communicate with softwares or apps on a mobile display device loaded with web-based software; and a server for the login of the player of the game using the toy gun.

Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide an interactive laser tag converter that can be attached to existing toy or replica gun or the like, or the equivalent, wherein these laser tag weapons comprise IR emitters, and IR receivers and are respectively integrated with sensors and wireless module or data communication linked to communicate with software or apps on mobile or wearable computers or mobile phones. The toy laser tag weapon comprises a mounting arrangement, a display board, an IR shooter, IR sensor and other sensors that can be mounted onto existing toy gun.

Another main object of the present invention is to provide a laser tag converter which can be attached to existing toy gun or the equivalent, via existing telescopic rail or other forms so that any loading or cocking, and triggering of the toy gun resulting in the form of movement of piston and sound transmissions can be tracked by sensors and analysed accordingly to enable the laser tag converter to shoot IR beams when the toy gun is triggered.

This summary is provided merely to introduce certain concepts and not to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Having thus summarized the general nature of the invention and its essential features and advantages, certain preferred embodiments and modifications thereof will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed description herein having reference to the figures that follow, of which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an interactive laser tag converter in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are front view and rear view of the interactive laser tag converter of the present invention, wherein the rear display end shows the display score or result of a game.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an interactive laser tag converter to show a possible means of attachment to existing toy gun or equivalent.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart indicating the triggering of weapon and the corresponding actions of the mobile display device and server in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram indicating the loading or cocking and triggering of the existing toy gun or equivalent and the corresponding actions taking place in the interactive laser tag converter and its wireless interactions with the software in the mobile display device and server in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following detailed description of the invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances well known methods, procedures, components, etc. have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of an interactive laser tag converter 100 in accordance with the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the interactive laser tag converter 100 for entertaining multiple play participants or players has an octagonal shape but the converter 100 can be of any shape. The external surface of the converter 100 is provided with a first mounting attachment 134 and a second attachment 132 for the mounting of the converter 100 to a laser gun or the light. FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B show the front end (emitting end) 130 of the converter 100, and the rear end (displaying end) 140 of the interactive laser tag converter to show the display score in accordance with the present invention. As shown, one end of the converter 100 is a display end 140 and the front end 130 of the converter 100 is an emitting end 130. In the preferred embodiment, the emitting end 130 is used for emitting a beam, and the displaying end 140 is used for displaying a score.

In accordance with the present invention, the interactive laser tag converter 100 for entertaining multiple play participants in a game comprises a housing 160 which is capable of transmitting and detecting an IR beam of light emitted from an IR beam source; a plurality of sensors contained in the housing 160 and being capable of sensing loading or cocking action of a toy gun 120, and triggering of the toy gun 120;

a bottom attachment 132 or the like of staying in contact with the toy gun 120;

a display 130 at one end of the tag converter 100 to show data or score of the game;

a wireless module or data communication linked to communicate with softwares or apps on a mobile display device 53 loaded with web-based software; and

a server 59 for the login of the player of the game using the toy gun 120.

As shown in the figure, the laser tag converter 100 is provided with a first attachment 134 and a second attachment for mounting the converter 100 to a toy gun 120.

FIG. 3 is a is a schematic diagram of an interactive laser tag converter 100 to show a possible means of attachment to existing toy gun 120 or equivalent. The tag converter 100 is mounted on the top portion of the toy gun 100.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart indicating the triggering of weapon (toy gun) and the corresponding actions of the mobile display device 53 and the server 59 in accordance with the present invention. Upon mounting the interactive laser tag converter 100 onto any kind of existing toy gun or equivalent 120, and the load or cock level of the gun or the equivalent initiated, the trigger of the gun is pulled or an electronic sound file is played. This step is shown as step 300. The software in the laser tag converter 100 digitises the physical movement or sound or the like as input signals for data analysis. which is indicated as step 310. In step 320 as shown in FIG. 4, software in the laser tag converter 100 processes, learns and interprets the loading or the cocking action, and triggering taking place in the existing toy 120. In step 330, software in the laser tag converter 100 interacts with the software or apps on a mobile display device to improve the accuracy of the interpretation that is taking place in the existing toy 120.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram indicating the loading or cocking and triggering of the existing toy gun or equivalent and the corresponding actions taking place in the interactive laser tag converter and its wireless interactions with the software in the mobile display device and server in accordance with the present invention.

A wireless module or data communication 53, and a server 59 installed with GPS functions are remotely linked to the converter 100. In the present preferred embodiment the laser tag converter 120 contains an IR emitter (not shown) and IR receiver (not shown) and are integrated with acceleration, gyroscopic and magnetic sensor, embedded microcontroller.

This interactive laser tag converter 100 illustrates a form of bottom attachment 132 that allows the player to mount onto the laser tag converter 100 onto existing toy guns or equivalent. The interactive laser tag converter 100 has a display board 120 that displays score and information to the user.

The interactive laser tag converter 100 can also be mounted with a plurality of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) 142 so that when the toy gun is loaded, the LED 142 displays a unique set of colour.

The existing toy gun mounted with the laser tag converter 100 fires off IR beams when the trigger of a toy gun is activated causing the laser tag converter 100 to play a sound file and cause the LED to blink. The laser tag converter 100 when receives an IR beams play a sound file and cause the LED to blink a unique set of colour.

The wireless module or data communication 13 of the present invention is linked to communicate with software or apps on a mobile display device such as a handphone 53, wearable mobile computers or the like.

When wirelessly connected, the player could use the device to download and play PC or tablet games from the server 59. The player could also interact with the server 59 to update the software of the laser tag converter 100.

While the invention has been described and illustrated in connection with preferred embodiments, many variations and modifications, as will be evident to those skilled in the art, may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The invention disclosed herein encompasses additional features and functions supported by the disclosure herein or apparent therefrom, variations of the game modes, features and functions described herein and new modes, features and functions, and variations in combinations and permutations thereof. The invention as set forth in the appended claims is thus not limited to the precise details of construction set forth above as such variations and modifications are intended to be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An interactive laser tag converter for a toy gun for entertaining multiple play participants in a game comprising (a) a housing being substantially hollow which contains an IR beam detecting mean capable of detecting an IR beam of light emitted from an IR beam source; (b) a plurality of sensors contained in the housing and being capable of sensing loading or cocking action of the toy gun, and triggering of the toy gun; (c) an attachment or the like of staying in contact with the toy gun; and (d) a display end at one end of the laser tag converter to show data or score of the game.
 2. The interactive laser tag converter as set forth in claim 1, further comprising (a) a wireless module or data communication linked to communicate with software or apps on a mobile display device loaded with web-based software; and (b) a server for the login of the player of the game using the toy gun.
 3. The interactive laser tag converter as set forth in claim 1, wherein the attachment is a member which is mounted onto the top portion of the toy gun.
 4. The interactive laser tag converter as set forth in claim 1, wherein the display end displays score of the game.
 5. The interactive laser tag converter as set forth in claim 1, wherein the top portion of the holder is provided with a first attachment.
 6. The interactive laser tag converter as set forth in claim 1, wherein the converter allows the transmitting and detecting an IR beam of light for use in a game. 